There was little sympathy in Ajit Agarkar’s tone when he explained Karun Nair’s snub from the squad against West Indies. He put it bluntly: “ We expected more from him (in England). He played four Tests, and there was just one fifty.” His words smacked of pragmatism. This is the hard reality of Indian cricket. Every innings is a final trial. Karun might be forever condemned to the wilderness.
That one fifty was the 57 at the Oval. The knock was valuable in arresting a collapse, but in the broader scheme his returns were meagre when most of India’s batsmen piled a mountain of runs on flatter than usual decks in England. Other scores read: 0, 20, 31, 26, 40, 14, 57, 17. Barring his first outing in Headingley, he got a start in every innings of his in England. Almost every time, he looked composed, essayed sumptuous drives off either feet, judged the lengths impressively and left the balls outside the off-stump without fuss. But one loose stroke, or a rare error in judgement would bring his downfall. And in the cut-throat competitive circuit of Indian cricket, unless a cricketer seizes the day, his days would be numbered. Agarkar hinted at this: “We would like to give 15-20 chances to everyone, but unfortunately it does not work that way.”
The implication was the competition, especially amongst batsmen, is stiff. Devdutt Padikkal, his former Karnataka teammate, displaced him in the squad, but it could have been Sarfaraz Khan had his quadriceps injury healed, or Shreyas Iyer if his back could endure the toils of five-day cricket. A less direct implication was that Karun might have already played his last Test. Two months before he turns 34, it is unlikely that Karun has ample time to script another comeback. A tragic strand ties his career. He happened to be an in-betweener. His peak years with Karnataka coincided with the rise of Virat Kohli and Co. His resurgence ran parallel with a phase of transition with the emphasis on young talents.
India’s Karun Nair walks after being caught during day four of the second cricket test match between England and India at Edgbaston in Birmingham, England, Saturday, July 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
His is a tale of two series against England, one home and away apiece, separated by eight long years. But in the end, he wasted his opportunities. There are others with as magnificent a body of work as him, like Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was a mere passenger for two five-Test series.
The first coming was spectacular. On the back of the numbers he stacked in the domestic ring, Karun was rewarded with a Test cap in the series against England (2016-17) when Ajinkya Rahane sustained an injury. His fourth innings was a triple hundred, against England in Chepauk. Life, then, had a rosier tint. Rise of a new young batsman was celebrated. But the euphoria was fleeting. He garnered only 54 in his next four innings, all against Australia in an intense series. Did the selectors mete out a raw deal then? Could he have been groomed better? It can be debated. But the hard truth was that he looked tormented at the highest level. His dismissal in the second innings in Bengaluru against Australia captures it. Mitchell Starc had just nailed Ajinkya Rahane and the next ball, his very first, he attempted a booming drive and saw his stumps shattered. Such indiscretions would be ruthlessly punished. His first iteration lasted two more innings. His technique had flaws; his mind did not possess the iron-will to resolve those either.
For the next eight years., he became a trivia. The only other Indian cricketer to have compiled a triple hundred other than Virender Sehwag. A one-innings wonder. He was forgotten as rapidly as he shot to fame. His own form crumbled, to such a galling extent that he was no longer a certainty in Karnataka. But the flames of comeback burned bright, he overcame a dark phase, joined Vidarbha, piled runs in county and rebounded to the national consciousness. Often, even during his little moments of triumph, he simply had the look of a man on a long journey, one who has come too far to turn back now.
But even his selection for the England tour offered little signs of permanence. He was perceived as a stop-gap, before the team management groomed a youngster or the selectors unearthed a wunderkind. They weighed in his county experience and success. But it was seldom going to be a long-term fix, unless he had mounted a staggering amount of runs. The selectors would invest in moulding a youngster, like Devdutt Padikkal, who Agarkar says offers “a bit more”. He can don the top-order roles as well as bat in the middle order too. He can be the anchor or the aggressor. ” Padikkal has been in the Test squad in the past. He has shown form with India A too,” Agarkar pointed out.
Story continues below this ad
For Padikkal and others such as Sai Sudharsan and Sarfaraz, Karun’s career offers valuable lessons. That a big knock at the start of the career shouldn’t burden you. Karun did not get carried away by early success, like Kambli, but the triple hundred hung like a millstone on his neck, his greatest moment was also his unravelling moment. Under its immense shadows, he creaked. That they should maximise the breaks at a time when opportunities arrive in trickles. On a more positive note, that they should not surrender hope even in the dusk of his career.
History, though, would judge him as a one-innings wonder. A trivia. The man who reeled under the weight of his triple hundred. But some would say, it is better to be a one-innings wonder than to be a non-wonder at all.
